When I step onto the stage, he takes my hand and grins. “Isn’t she beautiful?” he asks the crowd, and he’s treated to agreeable, if reluctant, applause.

I lift onto my toes so I can whisper in his ear. “I’m gonna kill you.”

He gives me that signature Carter Jackson cocky grin, and I’m sure the whole damn crowd thinks I whispered some dirty promise. He brings the mic back up. “Since I wouldn’t feel right letting someone bid on me when there’s only one woman I want to spend my night with, I’m going to bid on myself.”

I snort, and he flashes me a look.

“Molly, I’m proud to donate five thousand dollars to the Shoe Bus in exchange for spending my evening dancing with the woman I love.” He squeezes my hand tighter, as if he’s afraid I’m going to run away. To be fair, if I weren’t so paralyzed by shock, I might. He pauses dramatically and turns to face me, and the crowd is really into it now and cheers loudly. I spot a few angry faces pushing toward the exits, but he’s laying it on thick enough that most people are smiling. “What do you say, Teagan?” he asks so softly that the mic almost doesn’t pick it up. “Would you spend your night with the man who can’t keep his eyes off you?”

“You’re killing me,” I say, and the mic picks it up, making the crowd laugh.

Grinning, he passes the mic back to Molly and pulls me into his arms. I have no choice but to let him. Okay, I do have a choice. I could snatch that mic out of Molly’s hands and tell everyone that he’s a big, fat liar who is, in fact, single as a Pringle. But if I do that, tonight’s fundraiser might go all to hell, and as irritated as I am with Carter right now, I like him too much to sacrifice him to an angry mob of lust-crazed women.

And you do owe him, the little voice in my brain chides.

Fine. One very public night with Carter Jackson in exchange for him pretending he was my boyfriend for five minutes last year. Totally fair.

The band smoothly transitions into Etta James’s “At Last,” and Carter leads me into a dance onstage. I’m well aware of the heat of his body against mine. The smell of his aftershave fills my head and makes me forget this is Carter, my friend, not some guy who’s going to take me home and ravish me.

“Thank you for the incredibly generous donation, Carter,” Molly says as the song plays. “And thank you everyone for coming tonight, and of course a huge thanks to our sponsor, Jackson Brews. Don’t fret, ladies. Carter’s only the first of many bachelors ready to wine and dine you tonight. Stick around for your chance to bid on more men from the Jackson Harbor Fire Department, followed by dinner, dancing, and door prizes!”